Understanding how your mood changes throughout the day

The length of time marked by one second is a concept created by humans. Same with a week and a month. That, however, is not the case with the length of a day.

No matter what numbers humans put on it, the planet and the sun will do what they do. And the way that impacts how we function throughout the day has been of particular interest to Daniel Pink, author of “When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing,” and who spoke at the 2019 MDRT Annual Meeting.

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Pink recognized he was making sloppy decisions in terms of knowing what to do and when, and he looked to science for guidance on what he was doing wrong.

Using studies about mood and performance, he gained insight about, for example, how the emotional level of the words used in tweets varies throughout the day, suggesting peaks and valleys in overall mood. The same was found in analyzing people’s daily schedule and even by studying transcripts from public company earnings calls. In the latter, the earlier the communications with investors, the better the tenor of the discussion.

What does this have to do with you?
“Our brainpower doesn’t stay the same throughout the day,” he said. Yet the premise underneath how we schedule our work individually and collectively is that all times of day are created equal when it comes to brainpower.

Consider the nature of being “a morning person” or “a night owl.” Pink said approximately 80 percent of people naturally peak early in the day, hit a low point in the early to mid-afternoon and recover in the later afternoon/evening.

Whenever your peak is, you will be most likely to avoid distractions and perform focused, intense work. Are you optimizing what you do based on when you do it? Or are you doing administrative work in peak time and tackling more challenging cognitive responsibilities during low points in the day?

Do the tasks that require the most brainpower at the time when you have the most to use. Consider if staff and clients peak in the morning or later in the day, and schedule time with them accordingly. Think about if a meeting is focused and analytical or more loose and creative, and match that to the appropriate time of day.

If you and your team are more deliberate in how you schedule your day — including taking restorative social breaks, such as a walk with a coworker — you will work better and feel better.

Read more ideas to increase your productivity as well as more from the Annual Meeting in the 2019 July/August Round the Table and on MDRT’s Resource Zone.